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"In any case, Starship began flying off course, and its flight termination system activated." Is it me or is it weird they build in a self destruct system?, wo

• marssaxman 3y ago
  The flight termination system is not only standard practice, but also a legal requirement. The risk is that the out-of-control rocket might not explode, and its unpredictable path might return it over land, where its crash could cause considerable damage. It is better to destroy the rocket quickly and intentionally, at a high altitude, where the explosion is unlikely to harm anyone and the debris will fall in the ocean.
• jffry 3y ago
  > wouldn't it otherwise just burn-up or explode on failure? There's eventually a point the rocket is high enough and moving fast enough that if it broke up or went off course it would burn up on re-entry. Before that point, though, it's better to be able to destroy the rocket at a chosen time before it can go so far off course that it poses a threat to things on the ground outside of the cleared launch corridor. Edited to add: You can read about the flight termination system from the Apollo missions (known as PDF for Propellant Dispersal System) starting on page 33 of this PDF: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20090015395/downloads/20090015395.pdf https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20090015395/downloads/20...